Kyle Ray Jan. 26, 2008

Central falls at league duals

DECORAH—Central College’s young wrestling squad came up short against some of the Iowa Conference’s finest at the league duals in Decorah Saturday.

The Dutch were throttled by 20th-ranked Buena Vista 59-0, Cornell 51-3, No. 7 Luther 60-0 and No. 12 Loras 52-0.

The lone winner was freshman Kyle Ray (Greenfield, Nodaway Valley HS), who decisioned Cornell’s Aaron Kindelsperger at 157 pounds 7-1.

Still, first-year coach Eric Van Kley saw things he liked from the Dutch.

“The scoreboard is in no way indicative of the guys’ effort,” he said. “We wrestled four good teams that are predominately upperclassmen and for the most part fought hard in every match.”

Curtis Hobbs (freshman, Grinnell) pushed Buena Vista’s Luke Satern into overtime at 141 pounds before suffering an injury and losing by fall. Hobbs was sidelined the rest of the day.

“Nick Johnson (sophomore, San Antonio, Texas, James Madison HS) had a really good match against Loras (an 8-5 decision at 141 pounds) and had a chance to win it at the end,” Van Kley said. “And Ted Dirkx (freshman, Alleman, North Polk HS) had another solid performance (at 285 pounds).

“We’re growing as a team and we’re improving, but we’re still just very young.”

Central travels to Sioux City next Saturday for the Briar Cliff Invitational. The Dutch were seventh in an 11-team field at Briar Cliff last year.